Sharing with you my fascinating discoveries about Thoroughbred racing, sales, fashion, food, beverage, tips and more.
Keeneland kicked off its Fall Meet with Fall Stars Weekend. Live racing at Keeneland from October 2nd through 24th foreshadows the Breeders’ Cup set for November 6th and 7th at this very same racecource. This meet features 18 stakes races, 10 of which are “Win and You’re In” races for an automatic berth into the Breeders’ Cup! Check out what this Fall at Keeneland has to offer.
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Alas, the 145th Preakness Stakes is finally set to post this Saturday! The conventional second jewel but COVIDentional third jewel of the Triple Crown series will be raced at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland on October 3rd. While there won’t be a sweep this year, there is a sizeable field of talented thoroughbreds entered for this classic stakes race. Keeping with the unique differences the pandemic has created, one horse will not only carry the prestige of being the Preakness Stakes winner but for the first time ever, this winner will be granted an automatic berth into the $6 million dollar, Grade 1, Breeders’ Cup Longines Classic. Let’s keep learning about all of the unconventional awesomeness of this year’s Preakness!
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Delayed but not dismissed, the Derby is on at the Downs! The 146th Kentucky Derby field developed over a long and altered road but on Saturday, September 5, 2020, Churchill Downs will deliver “The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports”! Read on for the most important details for the Derby.
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This Friday is for the fillies! The very long awaited Kentucky Oaks will finally race on September, 4th. The 2020 Kentucky Oaks is already unique in so many ways. The 146th edition will go down as an Oaks to remember. These 3 year-olds have long awaited this opportunity to show off their star power. We are longing for the Longines Kentucky Oaks.
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The elongated and altered Road to the Kentucky Derby is finally coming to an end. When Churchill Downs hosted the first KY Derby prep race, the Iroquois Stakes, in September 2019 we had a firm series of races to lead us to the first Saturday in May. Nearly a year has passed and the KY Derby, delayed by a global pandemic, will race this September. There is a nice long list of potential contenders and one more race to try to qualify for the Kentucky Derby. The Pegasus Stakes offers just enough KY Derby points to make entry into the great race possible. Four of eight contenders in today’s Pegasus Stakes are in the top 25 of the leaderboard. Read on to see who might climb up to squeeze into to the top 20, to Run for the Roses.
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Tiz the season to be racing! It is Travers Eve and all of the good little racing fans are receiving an early Mid-Summer Derby. The 151st edition of the Runhappy Travers Stakes is indeed the gift that will keep on giving. This Grade I Classic traditionally serves as the highlight of the Thoroughbred racing season for 3 year-old champions. That is still true but this year is so much more mysterious. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, everything is different in 2020. Horse racing has done a marvelous job withstanding a current cancellation culture. Despite alterations to the typical racing schedule, the win, place and show must go on. Tiz the Travers and the presents are the Man o’ War Cup and a post position in the Kentucky Derby!
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In Kentucky, The Bluegrass State, the Battle of the Bluegrass is a title that is used to describe many competitive activities and sport events. This weekend, in The Horse Capitol of the World, The Battle of the Blue Grass is reserved for an important graded stakes race on The Road to the Kentucky Derby. The long overdue, 96th edition of the Blue Grass Stakes will race this Saturday!
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It has been way too long since I last saw Keeneland or a live Thoroughbred horse race. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, Keeneland shuttered their grounds to visitors and cancelled their epic Spring Meet. In a splendid effort to keep fine racing alive Keeneland was able to put together their first ever Summer Meet. To continue to take the highest precautions for safety, the races are spectator free. Fortunately, with careful planning, we can now enjoy Keeneland’s Summer Meet, #KeenelandatHome!
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In a year rife with changed and cancelled plans it has been a comfort to me that Thoroughbred horse racing has managed to continue, though in an altered manner . Looking for the silver lining in life, it brings me pleasure to remember these silver platters, the Belmont Stakes Trays. The winner Of the Belmont Stakes receives the August Belmont Trophy for a year but the trays that they receive, depicting the name of every winning Belmont Stakes horse, is theirs to keep forever. May racing go on forever too! In the spirit of that optimism, 2020 will feature all three legs of the Triple Crown. In the “New Normal” these races are quite a bit different. For the first time in the history of Thoroughbred racing, the Belmont Stakes inaugurated in 1867 will tip off the Triple Crown.
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When the 2019 Kentucky Derby resulted in a disqualification I thought that racing could not be more historically different and I felt a sense of disappointment. Never would I have imagined that different and disappointment would become what is often referred to as, “The New Normal.” Sometime, in the winter of 2019 a novel virus began sweeping the world and changed everything. Horse racing, an American tradition since the 1600s, slowed but did not, will not stop. Following an altered path on “The Road to the Kentucky Derby”, Grade 1 racing returns with such enthusiasm that it gathered 2 divisions! On the first Saturday in May, when the KY Derby traditionally takes place, we may instead enjoy two Arkansas Derby races, before the KY Derby resumes, scheduled for September 5th.
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